Chapter 412 It was just normal at that time

Eagle City, Lei Wenwen’s office.

Judra stood stiffly by the door.

After he was called, Raven just kept browsing the documents on the desk and never spoke.

Judra, who now stayed by Raven’s side and went by her last name, didn’t dare to disturb him and could only stare at the ground.

After staring for too long, the black spiral pattern on the white carpet seemed to spin, making Judra feel a little dizzy. She quickly shook her head and looked away.

There was a specimen of a deer head hanging on the wall next to it. The antlers were beautifully shaped, like two curved spatulas, and the gem-encrusted eyeballs were also lifelike, but they always had a sense of stiffness, like a dead object.

Then Judra noticed the clock next to her.

It is a new product from a factory in the Rust Belt. The error is only about 8 minutes per day and it is currently in the trial production stage.

The pendulum swung back and forth, and Judra watched the pointer on it move little by little, feeling anxious.

Half an hour had passed since he arrived here.

“Hmm…!” Raven stretched and threw the document in his hand aside:
“Mark, Mark…”

“Guess what’s in his letter?”

Every time he mentioned Mark, Judela would feel very unwilling, but facing Raven, he could only suppress his unhappiness and said respectfully:
“He is showing his loyalty to you.”

Raven nodded approvingly.

Judra was right. It was not just Mark’s letter. Raven had just read more than 20 letters from nobles in the five northwestern counties. Most of them expressed loyalty.

Although Raven’s killing of Anthony was not widely publicized, such matters could never be concealed and the news had already spread secretly.

Killing a noble, especially one who was a special envoy sent by His Majesty the King, would have serious consequences. No one believed that Raven could get away with it.

After that, most of the nobles in the five northwestern counties showed great respect to Raven.

Because in their opinion, Raven has gone crazy, and the behavior of a madman is always unpredictable.

He was afraid that any carelessness would lead to Raven’s revenge.

This panic that had accumulated for two months was completely released more than ten days ago when Raven went to Mon’en City for a banquet.

Many nobles concluded that Raven would never return, so except for diehards like Brocka and Versacine, they all cut ties with Raven in various ways.

Including but not limited to blocking roads, severing commercial relations, expelling residents of Eagle Territory and other places, etc.

But Raven not only went, but also came back safely after a big quarrel with Earl Tyrone!
This hurt a lot of people, so they wrote letters to please him and sent gifts to repair the relationship.

Among them is Judra’s younger brother, Mark, now the Baron of Ironforge.

“If you were still the Lord of Ironforge, wouldn’t you do this?” Raven asked.

Jude said, “Of course, because I know that you never make decisions on impulse, and you are always prepared for every step.”

Raven continued, “So, when I killed Anthony, you had already guessed that His Majesty would use this method to check and balance me?”

Judra shook her head slowly.

When Judra heard the news that Raven had killed Anthony, she was shocked; but after thinking about Raven’s usual style of doing things, she guessed that His Majesty the King would not kill Raven.

But the best outcome he could think of was that Raven would take the initiative to show goodwill to His Majesty, such as immediately sending troops to the Bloody Highlands, or offering His Majesty a large sum of wealth in exchange for a minimum punishment.

But what I didn’t expect was that Raven didn’t pay any substantial price!

Judging from Raven’s performance, he had obviously guessed the direction of this matter a long time ago, and even figured out Keynes XVI’s temper.

In other words, Keynes XVI’s reaction was already within Raven’s expectations.

“His Majesty would do this because he has his eyes on the entire empire.” Raven said with emotion: “Anthony is a court marquis, powerless and already very old.”

“And I, Raven, am a newly promoted earl of the Empire. I was awarded the title for my military merits and I am full of vigor. Not to mention that I am needed to pacify the Bloody Highlands, even if a war breaks out again in the future, there will always be a place for me to be of use.”

“Comparing the two, the choice is naturally very simple.”

There was a hint of shock in Judra’s eyes.

He always thought he knew Raven well enough, but now he realized that it was far from enough.

The pattern and vision displayed by these few sentences far exceeded what he had seen.

But doubts immediately came to my mind.

As if seeing Judra’s confusion, Raven continued:

“Of course, Your Majesty is also a human being, so of course he will be dissatisfied and angry.”

“But the premise is that I can still become his confidant.”

“I dare say that your majesty really wanted to help me loosen the blood curse at the beginning.”

“But if I kill the Flayed Man first and then Antony, he will be extremely disappointed after being angry. In his mind, I will go from being a ‘salvageable minister’ to a ‘useless weapon’.”

“Can you get angry about a weapon?”

“What’s more, this weapon is cursed and will break naturally when it reaches 40 years old.”

Judra was relieved at first, then horrified!
It’s not just Raven’s indifferent attitude towards life and death.

It was also because he could not hear any respect or awe for the king in Raven’s words.

Raven completely put himself on the same level as His Majesty!
“That’s enough of the small talk.” Raven placed a document on the table. “Please give it to Fiona for me. Find someone to copy it and publish it.”

“Yes, sir.” Judra stepped forward and took the document with both hands.

The above content is very simple: Raven decided to hold a cocktail party in 1204, which is February 2st of next year, to enthrone a new group of nobles!

“Do your job well.” Raven said with a smile, “In the future, you will have the opportunity to obtain your own title.”

Judra bowed to express her gratitude, then turned and left, feeling a little disdainful in her heart.

He knew Raven too well. How could he be confident in using someone like him?

boom.

The door closed, and Raven, who had been sitting upright, slumped in the chair with his head tilted to one side, as if the conversation had exhausted all his strength.

After closing his eyes and resting for a while, he poured himself a glass of wine, stood up and leaned on the windowsill, overlooking the entire Eagle City.

This castle is the result of all his hard work since he came into this world.

Raven once had an ambition to build a real city around Eagle City, making it the most prosperous city in the entire province and the entire empire!
But now, he only has 5 years left to live.

Raven thought again of the letter that Anthony brought him, the letter that would allow him to travel to the Elf Empire.

At that time, Raven knew that it was His Majesty’s instruction.

That can be said to be the only way to obtain the sap of life.

Now, although Your Majesty has not imposed any substantial punishment, the path for diplomatic missions has been completely cut off.

But Raven has no regrets.

Prolonging life is equivalent to saving a life, and the grace of saving a life plus the grace of the monarch will only turn Raven into a yes-man and a living puppet of Keynes XVI.

Raven didn’t live his life again to be a dog.

The cold air coming through the window made Raven feel a little chilly, and he tightened his clothes.

Subconsciously turning his head, looking at the motionless door, Raven sighed:
“Ugh……”

When Nancy was alive, she would always bring a pot of hot tea in weather like this.

At the time, it was only common.

……

At the same time, in Eagle Town, Paramount Hall.

Today, the Paramount, as the largest casino in the five northwestern counties and even in the entire Nord Province, is completely different from when it was first established.

To describe it in four words, it is “magnificent”.

It’s even more luxurious than the decoration of the Earl’s Castle!
The carpet is a striking and exciting bright red, while the walls and pillars are large expanses of gold. Under the illumination of the magic lights, it looks extremely magnificent.

There are bridge and blackjack games on the long table, roulette games on the square table, dice games on the round table, and various other more specialized ways of playing.

Every table was packed with gamblers.

The waitresses dressed coolly, holding trays in their hands, moved among the crowd, placing cups of drinks next to the gamblers who were gambling, then half-knelt down with a smile to accept generous tips.

But not every gambler is so generous.

“Get out of here and don’t dirty my hands!” Turo, the eldest son of Philip, the political officer of Shimmergold Town, looked impatient and pushed the waitress’s hand away.

He tightly grasped the few remaining chips in his hand, his forehead was covered with oil and his brows were tightly locked together.

What bad luck!
I finally got to change shifts today and come out to relax, but my luck is terrible. I originally had 10 chips of all sizes worth 100 gold coins, but now only 5 chips worth 1 silver coin are left.

If he loses it all, he will be left with nothing before next month’s salary.

I…have to make a comeback!

After drinking the drink in his hand, Turo left his seat and went to a round table for dice gambling.

Weighing the last five chips back and forth, Turow had a full view of the situation at the gambling table.

This table has drawn “small” four times in a row.

The atmosphere at the table was lively, some were excited, some were annoyed.

The atmosphere reached its peak when the dealer opened “small” for 7 consecutive times.

The dice cup began to shake again.

Faced with this rare situation, many gamblers chose to wait and see, while some gamblers bet on small continuously and won a lot, and were ready to make another attempt and take a gamble, and they all placed their chips on “small”.

“It’s time!” Turo licked his lips, snapped, and placed the last five chips on “big”.

Staring at the dice cup, Turo’s heart was pounding.

He has been hanging around in casinos for many years. The seven consecutive times were all small, and no one had ever heard of it, let alone the eighth time in a row.

Looking at the chips piled on “small”, Turo felt a little contempt for these bettors.

A bunch of gamblers who have lost their minds!

The dice cup stopped, and Turo licked his lips, watching the lid of the cup being opened little by little…

The dealer announced the points in a clear voice: “1, 2, 3, 6 points, small!”

Cheers rose to the sky!

Turo could only watch the chips in front of him being taken away. “No… this, how is this possible!?” Turo rubbed his eyes and pointed at the dealer:

“Eight times in a row!? You guys…”

He swallowed the word “cheating” back.

Everyone knows that Paramount is the Griffith family’s business.

Besides, who would cheat just for his five silver coin chips?

But I couldn’t swallow this anger no matter what.

“Haha, Moas, that’s great. You won eight times in a row and made a net profit of 8 gold coins. You have to treat us tonight!”

Who starts showing off now!?

Looking over with a frown, Tu Luo felt more and more unhappy.

The person who spoke was Beta, the son of Baron Kate, and the person being congratulated by Beta was Moas, the youngest son of Count Jonah.

Like Turo, both of them made their mark in the Eivor War, and together they participated in the destruction of the Firstborn’s Keep and the assassination of the Little Flayed.

But in personal relationships…

Moas smiled modestly: “I was just playing around, I never thought I would make so much money.”

“Why not take advantage of your good luck and bet again?” Beta asked with a little excitement.

The gamblers who had just placed bets with Moas also started to make a noise.

“This…” Moas hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: “Forget it, there is no such thing as a long-term winner at the gambling table. Let’s stop here today.”

Seeing this, Beta didn’t try to persuade him any further.

But some people couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, are you ready to stop now? What a coward!” Turo said sarcastically, “No wonder you were kicked out of your home and came all the way from Molinier to Nord to live a miserable life!”

Moas’s face turned pale.

His low status in the family and not being favored by everyone have always been his concern. Whenever he heard people mention this, he couldn’t help but shrink back.

“Turo, what nonsense are you talking about?” Beta couldn’t stand it anymore. “These chips were won by Moas himself. He has the final say on how to deal with them. What does it have to do with you?”

“Then what does it have to do with you if I talk to Moas?” Turo immediately retorted:
“Besides, it’s not that I don’t want to gamble, it’s that I just put pressure on him and lost. Now he doesn’t want to gamble anymore, what’s the difference between that and running away from the battlefield?”

Beta was so angry that he laughed: “When you bet on dice, you bet with the dealer, not against him!”

“I don’t care. Anyway, I lost this game and he won. I won’t let him just walk away like this.” Turo hugged his shoulders and said in a reckless manner:
“Moas, either you continue to gamble, or return the chips I lost to you. It doesn’t have to be much, 5 gold coins will be enough.”

Moas had a soft temper and thought to himself that he was an outsider after all, so he grabbed five chips worth 5 gold coin and was about to give them to Turo, but Beta intercepted them.

“Don’t bother with him!” Beta glanced at Turo and said, “With this head, he will never stop.”

Seeing the chips in his hand flying away, Turo was furious: “Beta, what’s wrong with you? Are you acting like Moas’s boss?”

“When did you two get married? How come I didn’t know?”

“You!” Beta was so angry that his face turned red: “Okay, you want it, right? Here you go!”

As he said that, he swung his arm and smashed the chips into Turo’s face!
Although he didn’t use any tricks or fighting spirit this time, Beta was extraordinary after all, and his strength was so great that he scratched several red marks on Turo’s face.

“Damn it, Beta, are you looking for a fight?!” Turo wiped his face and rushed forward yelling!

Turo dodged Beta’s kick and was about to punch Beta in the face when a foot suddenly stretched out from the side and kicked him hard on the waist!
Moas took action!

Tu Luo was shocked when he was kicked and lying on the ground.

How could this guy be so insidious and attack without making any noise?

In a one-on-two situation, Turow soon fell into a passive situation.

By the time the security guards from Paramount Hall arrived, Turo had been beaten to a pulp, with a swollen right eye, a cut at the corner of his mouth, and footprints all over his body!
“Sir, are you okay? Do you want us to call the Hawkeye guard?”

“No need, I fell down by myself!” Turo struggled to stand up and pointed at Moas and Beta and said, “Just you wait, this matter today is not over yet!”

As he said this, he dragged his leg and limped out.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get!

He lost money and was beaten up, and the ones who beat him up were two outsiders. How could this be justified? !
After getting on a carriage, Turo said, “Let’s go to the police station!”

“Okay sir, five copper coins!” said the driver with a smile.

He felt his pocket but found nothing. Turo was a little embarrassed: “You are from another place, I don’t even know you? I’ll give it to you when we get there, go!”

The driver did not dare to argue, so he had to drive the carriage and take Tu Luo to the police station.

After borrowing money from the guard at the door to pay the fare, Turo walked into the police station, but was told that Thor was handling a case and asked him to wait for a while.

Not to mention that there was a real problem, even if it was fake, Turo would have to wait.

There was no other way, so Turo sat on the bench at the door and asked casually, “What case?”

The guard stifled a laugh and said, “Fraud!”

The person who came to report the case was a man in his 30s from Xiongying Town. He worked in a clothing store and was considered middle class.

Some time ago, this brother went to a tavern to drink and met a bard. The two got along quite well.

We chat about everything under the sun every day.

Once when he was drunk, the bard said that he was not originally in this line of work, but was a mercenary. He mastered a combat skill, and as long as he practiced it well, he could become extraordinary without the help of divine potions!
As he spoke, he also performed a “Fire Fighting” on the spot.

At this moment, the eldest brother became interested – he was already old, but the child was still young. If the child could become a superhuman, join the Eagle Army or the Hawkeye Guard, then his future would be so bright!
But when asked again, the bard changed the subject.

For the next half month, the eldest brother kept pestering the bard to drink.

The bard was “touched” by the elder brother and was willing to teach him his unique martial arts, but he needed 50 silver coins.

When the eldest brother heard this, he thought, 50 silver coins, it’s not expensive!

I gave the money to the other party at that time, and in return I received a book on “combat skills”.

“This case is quite simple.” Turo said, “Although there are many outsiders in Eagle Town, there are not many bards. We can catch them all if we catch them.”

“If he had come earlier, it wouldn’t have been difficult.” The guard shrugged. “But the problem is, that brother urged his son to practice for half a year, and the child was beaten and cried seven times before he realized that he had to report it!”

“Ah?” Turo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

As they were talking, the door opened and the eldest brother thanked them profusely and left.

Thor also walked out the door, and seeing Turo’s appearance, he knew that he had encountered trouble:
“Come in and talk.”

Turo quickly stood up and followed Thor: “Has the case just now been solved?”

“No, it’s not that easy!” Thor sighed, “Just take notes and comfort him. Unless the liar comes back on his own initiative, this case is probably unsolvable.”

“Thor, you are really conscientious. In the past, no one would care about this kind of case.” Turo flattered subtly:

“As expected of an Eagle Eye Guard, not only is he handsome, but he also cares about our Eagle Leader at heart!”

Thor enjoyed the flattery very much.

He was indeed good-looking, having inherited Eric’s square face but not his uneven eyes.

Wearing the Hawkeye Guard’s uniform, with a wide-brimmed hat, large sunglasses, a single-sided cape, and the extremely stylish half-body plate armor, he really looks like a man of military merit.

“As an Eagle Eye Guard, it is my duty to help the people in my territory solve their problems.”

Thor lowered his voice again and said, “Besides, I heard that the Earl is going to confer titles on a group of nobles recently. At this time, of course we have to behave better!”

“Oh!” As Fili’s son, Turo had heard the news a long time ago, but he still looked surprised, as if he had heard a great secret:
“Knight Eric is truly trusted by the Earl. Even my father didn’t know this.”

“Of course. How can my father be compared with others?” Thor smiled proudly, but the pride turned into blame:
“So, what’s wrong with your face? At this critical moment, you can’t be more careful!”

Turo was waiting for him to ask this question, and said with a bitter face: “I don’t want this to happen either!”

“Actually, I don’t want to bother you, but those guys are really going too far. They don’t take us locals seriously at all!”

Thor asked, “Did those outsiders do it?”

“That’s right!” Turo became excited when he heard this and told him about his previous experiences one by one.

Of course, it is inevitable to add some exaggeration.

It was obvious that he lost the money, but he insisted on saying that he won the money, and ended up having it snatched away by Moas and Beta.

“They all work under the Earl, so I thought it would be fine to give them the chips, but they not only want to take back the lost part, but also take away all my chips!”

“As soon as I hesitated, they started beating me! If we hadn’t been in the Paramount Hall, I might have lost my life!”

After saying that, Turo looked at Thor with trepidation.

As Raven’s power expanded, the composition of his personnel inevitably became complicated, and different interest groups were spontaneously formed based on factors such as background, qualifications, and personality.

The loudest voice among them is the “local faction” headed by Eric. Most of them are from Eagle Leaders and generally have long seniority and great contributions.

The other faction is the “outsiders” headed by Cuman, most of whom gradually joined in as the Raven territory expanded.

For various reasons, the older generation will not actively create conflicts, and may even deliberately avoid them, but second-generation figures like Thor take these very seriously.

Use this identity to keep each other warm and fight for common interests.

Thor, in particular, has always regarded himself as a representative of the second generation of the local faction.

“It’s too much!”

Thor knew that what Turo said might not be entirely true, but since he was one of his own, there was no reason not to help him. Otherwise, who would recognize him as the boss?

“Don’t worry, our Dyson family will definitely win the title this time. When my father becomes a baron, we will have plenty of ways to deal with them!”

Turo’s heart sank.

after?

So buddy, let’s just forget about it this time?

Thor also knew that this excuse would not work. He rolled his eyes and said, “Moas is Jonah’s son, and Beta is Kate’s beloved son. It’s not easy to just do it.”

“But this vengeance cannot be left unrequited now!”

Turo’s eyes lit up: “How do I report it?”

“We can’t deal with the two of them, but we can deal with others!” Thor waved his hand and asked Turo to lean over and whisper:
“Don’t these outsiders say that Hoyaz is the most likely to become a knight?”

“I just have an idea. Let Hoyaz be removed from the group of people who are to be canonized!”

……

(End of this chapter)